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Lana Borg shed tears when she was announced the winner of the 2015 NSW Woman of the Year Award for the community hero category on Wednesday at State Parliament.
Mrs Borg of Emu Plains cried when she realised how much the award would mean to scores of hungry and the homeless who await the arrival of the Mama Lana van carrying free hot meals four nights a week at Allen Place car park, Penrith.
The finalists for NSW Local Hero have also been announced. They include Lana Borg and Roger Borg, who feed the homeless in Penrith out of their kitchen; Anne Bunde-Birouste, who promotes refugee health as founding director of Football United; Lucy Haslam, who campaigns for medicinal marijuana, and youth educator and executive director of the Sydney Story Factory Catherine Keenan.
Already heroes to more than 100 people sleeping rough in the Penrith area every night, Emu Plains couple Lana and Roger Borg have now been recognised as NSW finalists in Australia’s Local Hero Awards. The couple, who have seven children and three grandchildren, serve more than 400 home-cooked meals four nights a week with the help of a growing band of volunteers.
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Merriwa and district Australia Day Awards were held at the Cassillis Bowling Club with a large gathering leaving standing room only.
Ambassadors Lana and Roger Borg travelled from Penrith with their two children to attend the event, their foundation, the Mama Lana Foundation was born out of Mrs Borg providing hot meals for firefighters in 2013 and now has more than 80 volunteers providing meals for those in need six nights a week along with a host of other community projects.
In celebration of Neighbour Day, we recently asked members across Australia to recognise a neighbour who goes above and beyond to make their community a stronger, safer and better place to call home. Hundreds of nominations flooded in from every corner of Australia highlighting heartwarming stories of people making real social impact in their neighbourhoods and beyond. Nextdoor is proud to recognise the following well-deserving winners of our 2019 Neighbour Day Awards.
And the winners are…
Amy Basman – Glenmore Park, New South Wales
Always sharing a helping hand to someone in need, Amy recently hosted a fundraiser for a neighbourhood family and raised more than $13,000 for them in two days. Amy also worked with the Make a Wish Foundation to help support the family. Regularly, Amy volunteers as the operations manager for the Mama Lana’s Community Foundation in Penrith, and works for Anglicare as a carer. She was recently nominated as a New South Wales “Women of the West” for all of her recent incredible efforts to support and strengthen her community. Good on ya, Amy!
In their third gig as Australia Day ambassadors, this year's trip to Bathurst may be the best one yet for Lana and Roger Borg.
"We feel quite honoured that we get [to be ambassadors for Bathurst]. We'd like to be able to spread awareness of what we do and encourage others to help out in their area."
The couple previously represented Trangie in 2018 and Merriwa in 2019 and they've got a great reputation in charity work in Western Sydney.
Dedicated western Sydney locals have been recognised for their contribution to the community at the 2020 NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards.
Samuel Fleetwood won Young Volunteer of the Year and Mark Hutchings took out the Adult Volunteer of the Year category along with 2020 NSW Volunteer of the Year for the Sydney Outer West region.
Run by the Centre for Volunteering, around 100 guests, volunteers and community leaders came together this week for the first ever virtual event to celebrate the volunteers. Mr Fleetwood, 22, has spent the last five years giving time each week serving food at Penrith charity Mama Lana’s.
Co-founder of Mama Lana’s, Roger Borg, also won Volunteer of the Year for the Blue Mountains region, which Mr Fleetwood said was very well deserved.